Alabama Swimming and Diving Falls to Tennessee
11/4/2005 12:00:00 AM | Swimming & Diving
The Alabama men's and women's swimming and diving team opened up their season Friday in Tuscaloosa with losses against conference rival Tennessee.
The Tide men lost 169-74 while the women fell 164-79. The No. 11 Vols are 4-0, 3-0 in the Southeastern Conference while the No. 19 Lady Vols go to 4-0, 3-0 SEC. Alabama's men and women and both ranked 24th, fall to 0-1, 0-1 SEC.
"I have to hand it to Tennessee, they were sharp out there today," Alabama head coach Eric McIlquham said. "We had some good swims out there today and our divers did well, but a lot of today was about knocking off the rust and getting things going."
There were some decided bright spots for the Crimson Tide. Freshman Mark Randall was dominating in the distance events, winning both the 1000 and 500 freestyles by large margins. In the 500 freestyle, his 4:23.26 beat the nearest competitor by 14 seconds. It also puts him 10th all-time for the Crimson Tide in just his first meet.
Alabama went one-two in the 200 breaststroke with junior Vlad Polyakov picking up just where he left off at last year's NCAA Championships. Polyakov, the defending NCAA 200 breaststroke champion, posted the nation's fastest time on the young season, going 1:56.27. Junior Hunor Mate' was second with a 2:02.41.
On the women's side, senior Crystal Rasmussen dominated the one and three-meter boards against the Vols, winning the one-meter by more than 20 points and the three-meter by more than a dozen. Junior Victoria Genova won the 200 butterfly going away, posting a 2:03.83, more than three seconds faster than second place.
Alabama returns to action immediately, traveling to Cleveland, Miss. Saturday where they will face Delta State and Henderson State at 3 p.m.
